It has been a difficult summer for Chelsea and their boss Antonio Conte, who has openly voiced his frustration at the club’s failure to recruit his desired targets – both in terms of quality and quantity.
This game felt like the culmination of such issues and could well be the breaking point that leads to further significant moves in the transfer market.
Attacking midfielder Jeremie Boga is undoubtedly talented but his inclusion – along with a a bench populated largely by inexperienced young players – also felt like a point being made about the resources the Italian has available.
There was no Diego Costa (on his way out), no Eden Hazard or Pedro (injured) and, after 24 minutes, no Cahill, exposing the decisions to let Nathan Ake join Bournemouth and fellow defender Kurt Zouma go on loan to Stoke.
Cahill’s red card ended Boga’s shock debut early, as he was replaced by Christensen, and handed the initiative to Burnley, whose three-goal salvo added disbelief to the list of negative emotions ripping through the home support.
On the plus side for the Blues, Morata adapted quickly to life in the Premier League, showing an intelligence of movement and eagerness, even if this did lead him to deny his side a goal.
But Conte has plenty of thinking to do. This was the Blues’ first opening-day league defeat since 1998 and they have now had four men sent off in their last three competitive games, dating back to last season’s FA Cup final.
